Sculpture in the Gardens

Dropping Tipping Point and foundation into a hole we’d prepared earlier.

Auckland Botanic Garden‘s biennial sculpture show is about to open – it runs from 29 November 2015 to 6 March 2016. All of the works are now in place and it looks like a pretty good show with plenty of well-known artists represented. This is the fourth time my work has been selected for this event.

In what has to have been the easiest installation ever, Tipping Point was placed in position way back on 11 November. Toughening OSH rules mean that work on Council-owned land can only be undertaken by appropriately trained and certified contractors and staff. My role was pretty much reduced to watching and offering helpful comments from the sidelines. Overall a great job by the crew.

Tipping Point was crafted in my neighbour’s barn. It did start in my garage, but I quickly worked out that wasn’t going to work.

As with most of my work, there is an environmental message. Tipping points and domino theories allude to points where systems become unstable; producing a cascade of unintended consequences that are as inevitable as the last domino toppling. The work is especially pertinent as our minority National government representatives head off to Paris with proposals for meagre greenhouse gas emission reductions and a disingenuous appeal that the small size of our emissions on a global scale mean that we can maintain business as usual.